We Interview Mike Fountain - page 3
Interview
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Yes, very often. It really depended on what it was and how long they were going to be there. When I first started the BBC rehearsal studios was in a place called Delgano Way. It was a community centre right in the middle of a run down council estate close to Wormwood Scrubs. It must have been strange for the people that lived there to see these Rolls Royce’s turning up every day.
Strangely Eric and Ernie loved it because it was out of the way and they could get on with the serious business of rehearsal.
Sometimes I stayed, other times I went away and came back later to pick them up. Usually if they were rehearsing into the early evening I would come back for them about 6. That meant I got about 3 hours of watching them work which was great. Seeing all the work and planning, I was even in a sketch once!
It would always be difficult to tell what the show would be like on the television because when you watch it being filmed it totally different. You had a warm-up man to get the audience in the mood first, that was usually Felix Bowness (who later played the jockey in Hi-De-Hi). Next Eric and Ern would come on and do a sketch. The warm-up would come back to the keep the audience entertained while the next sketch was prepared, and of course there were the cameras and studio people to watch.
What you saw on television was just the parts with Eric and Ernie in them, but in the studio it was more than that.
Did you ever have any accidents while driving Eric?
Not really accidents. The only time I remember something similar happening was when we were coming back from Clacton once. They had just done a show on Clacton Pier and we were coming back through Hertford. All of a sudden there was this mini-roundabout that wasn’t there before! It was just one of those humps in the road, not a proper roundabout. Not seeing it I went straight over it and the whole car jumped. Eric was asleep at the time, but he soon woke up!
What did you think of the move to Thames?
They were persuaded by the promise of a film and a bit more money. It helped that John Ammonds went with them too, but I still think it was a bad idea. It didn’t work well. The flow was broken up by the adverts which made it a different show to the BBC one. So really I think it was a bad move.
What do you remember about Eric and Ern together?
Probably the closeness. One knew what the other one was thinking. They could spend 6 months apart, in between shows, and when they came together it was like they had only seen each other a few hours ago. They would briefly say hello and that was it, That was all they needed after all those years, they knew each other inside out, how they would react, how they would say a line, how they would get the laugh. Brilliant.
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